Veteran Actor Michael Wright, Known for ‘The Five Heartbeats’ and ‘V’, Passes Away at 70

Michael Wright, a member of the musical group The Five Heartbeats, poses in the press room at the 2011 BET Awards held at The Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, California, on June 26, 2011.

Michael Wright, an actor known for his roles in the films The Five Heartbeats, The Principal, and Sugar Hill, as well as the television series V, has passed away.

According to a statement from family members cited by TMZ, Wright died on Wednesday from heart failure complicated by Marchiafava‑Bignami, a rare degenerative neurological disorder. He was 70 years old.

“Many knew and loved him through ‘The Five Heartbeats,’ ‘The Wanderers,’ ‘V,’ ‘The Principal,’ ‘Streamers,’ and the many other characters he brought to life throughout his remarkable career,” the actor’s wife, Susan Wright, wrote in a tribute on Instagram (via Variety). “His talent, presence, and contributions to film and television will live on, but to those of us who loved him personally, he was so much more than the roles the world knew him for.”

Directed by Robert Townshend and written by Townshend and Keenan Ivory Wayans, the 1991 film The Five Heartbeats tells the story of a fictional singing group of the same name. Wright portrays Eddie King Jr., the talented yet troubled lead singer.

In the series V, which originally aired as an NBC miniseries in 1983 before becoming a regular series in 1984, Wright portrayed Elias Taylor, a leader of the Resistance following the first alien invasion known as the Visitors.

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